In the face of political upheaval in higher education and debate over international student enrollment, officials from northern and central Michigan universities say they're optimistic about enrolling many new international students this fall.
Saginaw Valley State University is one of the Michigan schools whose priority this year was to admit more international students, said Abby Swanson, an international admissions counselor.
“Whatever is going on in D.C., in the political climate, that’s not really being felt on campus when you’re interacting on a person-to-person basis,” Swanson said. “Students are just as welcome as they used to be. If anything, our support and our desire for international students has increased as a result of everything. We are just as excited and welcoming as before.”
Recently the U.S. Department of State paused scheduling new visa interviews for international students to expand screening of their social media, according to the Associated Press.
International student applications fluctuate
Central Michigan University is one of the schools that has been experiencing a decline in international student applications for the upcoming academic year. In the past couple of years, CMU has invested resources into increasing the number of international students on campus.
Jennifer DeHaemers, vice president of student recruitment and retention at CMU, said graduate international student application numbers have seen the most decline. They’re down 1,500 applications, which is a decrease of about 26%.
As of June, CMU issued 1,500 students their I-20s, which is a document from a university that certifies the student’s admission. So far, about 1,100 of those students paid their SEVIS fee, a payment for their visa, which DeHaemers said shows their commitment to coming to CMU.
A little over 100 students already received their visas, which is down 50% from this time last year, DeHaemers said.
“Certainly the pause in visa appointments that has been announced gives us concern about the next couple of months,” she said. “The largest percent of our international students at Central usually get their visa appointments and their visa during the months of June, July. ... There's a lot of uncertainty as to how many of the 1,100 students that paid their SEVIS fee will actually get their appointments."
The undergraduate international student population saw much less of a decrease in applications. DeHaemers said CMU had 2,900 applicants seeking a bachelor’s degree this fall, which is down 235 from last academic year.
But the admission of undergraduate international students has gone up. DeHaemers said about 1,500 of those applicants have been admitted, which is 256 more students from last year.
The reason for the decline of international student applications at CMU is tied to the change in the presidential administration, DeHaemers said.
“We've been hearing from our partners overseas who help us recruit is that students are a little more cautious about coming to the United States,” she said.
During Donald Trump’s first presidency, the number of international student visas issued decreased, according to the U.S. Department of State visa report:
- 2017: 421,008
- 2018: 389,579
- 2019: 388,839
- 2020: 121,205
- 2021: 377,659
This is a decrease from 2012 through 2016, when the number of issued international student visas ranged from 500,000 to 600,000. The number also started to grow after Trump’s presidency, reaching 437,018 visas issued in 2022 and 472,262 – in 2023.
Lake Superior State University is seeing some changes in applications as well.
Jamie Zamjahn, interim vice president of enrollment management and student success at Lake Superior State University, said they saw a 15% increase in Canadian student applications. But outside of Canada, LSSU experienced a 1.8% decrease of international student applications.
“Lake Superior State University is unique in that the campus is situated on the border of Canada,” Zamjahn wrote in an emailed statement. “We are focused on future enrollment strategies to continue outreach and recruitment of Canadian students, especially in the Algoma region.”
Northwestern Michigan College Director of Admissions Lisa vonReichbauer said they usually have about 500 international student applications, and about 40 of them end up enrolling.
So far this summer NMC has five students admitted for the fall semester, but vonReichbauer said this is normal for this time of the year.
She said NMC doesn’t see a significant decrease in international student applications, but this could also be because of how unique it is compared to bigger universities in the state.
“Our numbers are so low to begin with,” vonReichbauer said. “We don't get the numbers of applications that the larger universities get and a lot of times the students who come to us are coming with pretty significant ties to Traverse City.”
For example, three of those students are already in the U.S. but on a different visa, such as J1, which means they’re applying for a change of their status within the country.
Officials with SVSU said they aren't concerned about international enrollment either.
Alice Yang, the director of the office of international programs at SVSU, said the university has about 200 students from more than 40 different countries.
Yang said SVSU is following a five-year strategic plan to expand their international recruitment and increase the international student population to 800.
“International school brings wisdom, their knowledge, their language, culture,” Yang said. “They are (here) for global learning opportunities for SVSU students, faculty, staff.”
SVSU admitted 2,000 international students out of 2,500 applicants for the upcoming academic year, according to Swanson. About 60 of them already have their student visas approved, but Swanson said SVSU is expecting about 100 new students to actually be enrolled this fall.
“I would say this year we have a higher number of international admits, so typically the 2,000 number would be a bit lower,” Swanson said. “Our leadership here at Saginaw Valley has made it a top priority to increase international enrollment on campus."
Ferris State University told WCMU it's too early to share their numbers of international student applications, but provided the following statement:
“We continue to be optimistic about enrollment for the upcoming fall semester and are seeing an increase in applications,” Dave Murray, associate vice president for marketing and communications, wrote in an email. “Belonging is a pillar in Ferris State's strategic plan. We welcome international students and believe they are an important part of our campus community.”
Impact of international students at mid-Michigan universities
Even though the application numbers have been lower at CMU for the next academic year, DeHaemers said she still feels optimistic about getting good enrollment of international students at Central.
“Our staff in the International Office are really reaching out to the students that we've admitted ... to assure them that at Mount Pleasant and at Central Michigan, (we’re) still very interested in having international students come,” she said. “We're working on ... their onboarding, getting from the airport in Detroit to campus and a lot of different things that we try to do to help them acclimate.”
For CMU, international students play many important roles, DeHaemers said. They usually study subjects that domestic students aren’t interested in such as engineering, STEM and economics.
They also bring diversity to campus and contribute to the local economy, DeHaemers said.
“When (international students) come to the United States, very few of them get any kind of financial support from the university,” DeHaemers said. “They get no financial support from the U.S. government or from the state of Michigan. ... For the most part, they pay a lot of money to come here to study at the university and also in our case, to live in Mount Pleasant.”
International students contributed $50.6 million to the mid-Michigan economy in 2022, according to “Contributions of New Americans in Mid-Michigan" study published by the American Immigration Council and Michigan Global Talent Coalition in April 2025.
The study focused on regions that included CMU, SVSU and FSU. It also highlighted that 304 out of 1,718 total international students graduated with a degree in STEM.
The same study showed immigrants in general living in mid-Michigan contributed $1.3 billion to the region’s economy and paid over $150 million in taxes in 2022.
“They are not only paying tuition at universities ... they’re buying food at our grocery stores ... they are paying rent here, they’re paying for utilities, they’re going out to eat here,” DeHaermers said. “They are contributing quite a bit of money to the economy.”
Swanson said international students at SVSU are involved on campus and contribute to the university’s economy through utilizing dorm spaces and dining services.
“I think international students really enrich both the local campus community, but also the wider community,” Swanson said. “Students really are able to highlight their different uniqueness during different cultural events that we put on campus. And it's really exciting to celebrate those differences between us, but also to connect with people from around the world and see how similar we actually are.”
For NMC, international students have less of an economic impact, but they also bring an important cultural aspect to the campus, VonReichbauer said.
“For a small campus in northern Michigan and having international students on campus just brings a different experience to everybody,” VonReichbauer said. “Traverse City is a very welcoming, safe community. So it's a good experience to the international students who come to us, but it also creates those cultural experiences for our domestic students as well.”
In fact, VonReichbauer said NMC has a long history of hosting international students and doing study abroad. It is in the top ten community colleges in the U.S. who send students abroad for study, according to an NMC press release.
“We're very proud of that,” VonReichbauer said. “But part of helping our students get interested in learning about other cultures and studying abroad is engaging with those students on campus.”
Unspoken concerns
Even though officials from several Michigan universities say they’re excited to welcome international students to their campuses this fall, they say there are still some uncertainties.
Swanson said she sees that many institutions across the U.S. are concerned that international students are not feeling as welcomed as they used to.
This spring, several Michigan universities, including CMU, SVSU and University of Michigan, reported having a few international students having their visa status revoked, according to MLive.
The AP reports that in total at least 1,220 international students at 187 colleges had their visas revoked. The White House also issued a restriction on Harvard’s ability to enroll international students for the sake of national security.
DeHaemers said CMU hasn’t seen a change in retention of international students, but there haven’t been many students who asked CMU if they can transfer home for the summer.
“Most of our international students decided to stay here this summer instead of going home because they were concerned about being able to get back into the country,” she said.
Similarly, VonReichbauer said NMC didn’t have current international students travelling outside of the U.S. this summer, but she understands the concerns about being able to return into the country.
VonReichbauer also said she knows about issues with getting visa appointments.
“I do have a couple students who are admitted for the fall semester ... and having trouble scheduling visa appointments, but I do have another student that got her visa approved just this week,” she said. “But I think students who have not yet scheduled a visa appointment may have some challenges.”
We note WCMU’s broadcast license is held by Central Michigan University. WCMU’s newsroom is editorially independent from CMU, and the university is not involved in writing, editing or reviewing our reports.
